Conduct Innovative Research on Service Design | Two National Programs Successfully Applied by the Team of Zhao Chao, Vice President of Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research
Recently, the evaluation results of the 2022 application projects have been announced in succession by the Arts Program of the National Social Science Fund of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Vice President Zhao Chao won a key program from the Arts Program of the National Social Science Fund of China, which was named “Theory Research and Development of the System for Innovative Methods on ‘Health Design’ for Public Health Crisis”. The Arts Program of the National Social Science Fund of China, the ranking research program of art disciplines, represents the most advanced research in the field of art theories in China.
Vice President Zhao Chao also won another program from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which is mainly led by the post-doctor Xu Peng with Zhao Chao as the co-supervisor. It is a program named “Research on Theories, Methods, and Systems to Co-develop Innovation and Value of Service Design in Digitalization”, supported by the Young Scientist Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for research on service design. With a focus on basic research, advanced technologies, and talents, the National Natural Science Foundation of China highlights the role of innovative teams in developing disciplines. It has made vital contributions to raising the original ability for innovation and has become the main channel to support basic research in China.
Zhao Chao
Vice President of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
Professor and Doctoral Advisor of the Department of Industrial Design
Vice President of Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research
As for teaching, Zhao Chao is committed to raising outstanding talents of art and design that embrace the international view, social consciousness, and innovative spirit through practical teaching. During the past ten years in developing the major of industrial design, he has set up a goal of cultivating talents in art and design that integrates knowledge imparting, ability training, and value shaping. He has established a teaching ecosystem which incorporates three aspects, including the core curriculum, practice in enterprises, and foreign exchange. Besides, he has also built up a three-level knowledge system that integrates theory, skills, and methods from the perspective of the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctor, and boosts the cultivation of leading talents for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural design through teaching reform. With the support of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, he founded the “Global Joint Education Program for Cultivating Postgraduates of Innovative Design” and won the first prize for his achievements in education for postgraduates. He also cooperated with the Medical School to integrate art design with bioengineering, launch the first batch of Tsinghua General Honors Course, and cultivate leading medical talents who master the all-round knowledge of engineering, medicine, humanities, and art to apply their academic achievements.
In terms of research, Zhao Chao has presided over many innovative research topics and programs on the design of products and services for national ministries and commissions as well as large enterprises at home and abroad, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, CRRC Corporation Limited, Hisense Group Co., Ltd, Midea Group, Boeing Company, and P&G. He has published nine academic monographs or textbooks in both Chinese and English at home and abroad, released/introduced dozens of papers and works, and has been invited to deliver over 100 papers and keynote speeches at important academic conferences of research on design at home and abroad.
The design projects led by Zhao Chao have won dozens of major prizes at home and abroad, including the Red Dot Design Award, the Gold Award of China Good Design, the Red Star Design Award, the Excellence Award from the National Artwork Exhibitions, the Gold Award of National Innovation Design Competition for Emergency Rescue, and the National Major New Product Award. His works have been exhibited in several countries, such as Germany, the United States, Australia, Japan, Italy, France, and Belgium, and have been embodied or collected by cultural institutions, such as the German Red Dot Design Museum of Xiamen, the National Museum of China, the National Art Museum of China, and the Zhejiang Art Museum.
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Program Name: Theory Research and Development of the System for Innovative Methods on “Health Design” for Public Health Crisis
——The Key Program of the Arts Program of National Social Science Fund of China
As the prevention and control of major outbreaks are systematic engineerings which demand support from the innovative design of the system of products and services, this research gets involved in the innovative work of making products for pandemic prevention from the perspective of design science on the basis of the “Healthy China” strategy to carry out the innovative theoretical basis for the implementation of the national strategy for health and the task of global pandemic prevention and control, to set an example of applying the achievements of design on products and services for pandemic prevention through industrial practice, and to make a reference for the course in raising competent people in the field of “health design”. In terms of society and industry, to meet the needs of pandemic prevention and control, the program has studied theoretical research and practical paradigms from four aspects, including the design in product, service and experience, medical organization, and social innovation, to build a holistic one-stop chain system for pandemic prevention before, during, and after the outbreak. As for the development of disciplines, the program has set up a professional knowledge system of “health design” for the needs of dealing with the public health crisis. It has integrated various instruments, activities, organizations, events, and communities from the medical system into an orderly system. From a methodological point of view, the program has organically integrated research methods of medical analysis, such as 6A theoretical analysis and narrative evidence-based analysis, with the design research to work out the innovative paradigm of multidisciplinary cooperation and transdisciplinary integration in designing products/services for pandemic prevention, and to extend the methodology of research on “health design”.
Professor Zhao Chao (3rd from the left) and academician Cheng Jing (2nd from the right) are discussing the research course.
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Program Name: Research on Theories, Methods, and Systems to Co-develop Innovation and Value of Service Design in Digitalization
——The Program Supported by the Young Scientist Fund of NSFC
To deal with challenges brought by the rapid development of the design of the global digital economy and service, and to make a proactive response to the Guidelines on Further Promoting the Development of Service-oriented Manufacturing jointly and the initiative from the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of the People’s Republic of China proposed by fifteen governmental departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission, which have underlined that efforts should be put to strengthen the basic research on industrial design and the R&D of key generic technology, and highlighted the concept of innovative design, we should improve the service for industrial design and help to turn the “Made in China” into “Created by China”.
Given that, Xu Peng, the Post-doctor from the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University, has commenced research on innovative service design and has won the Young Scientist Fund of NSFC in 2022 for his program “Research on Theories, Methods, and Systems to Co-develop Innovation and Value of Service Design in Digitalization” (Program Leader: Xu Peng; Co-Supervisor: Zhao Chao).
The Analytical Research Topic Conducted by Xu Peng, the Post-doctor from the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
This program has combined perspectives of several disciplines, including design science, management science, information science, service science, and psychology science, to explore the concept of value co-creation and mechanism for user-centered innovative service design under digitalization. Based on the existing design science, marketing science, information science, and service science, the program will fully explore the customer-focused innovative service design and the connotation and mechanism for value co-creation to provide the overall cross-discipline support for developing an interdisciplinary—management and design science, to break the boundaries and barriers between disciplines, and to extend and innovate the related theoretical knowledge.
Based on the interdisciplinary research of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, the program contains knowledge from several disciplines, including design science, management science, information science, service science, and psychological science. The research offers theoretical guidance for the design and also refers to studies on the methodology in terms of innovative service design.
Zhao Chao’s team is committed to the research and innovative practice of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural design. Through innovative design, he has integrated various essential elements of culture, technology, aesthetics, and commerce and has made the design with social attributes, humanized experience, and sustainable development. Zhao Chao and his team won two national programs, which have strongly promoted the scientific research strength of the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University and steadily improved its influence in the industry. Besides, they have also provided academic support and guarantee for scientific research on the exploration of art across disciplines and the integration of science with innovation for Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research.
